Source: WEST HILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE submitted to NRP
WATER SCIENCE AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR CALIFORNIA`S CENTRAL VALLEY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0222709
Grant No.
2010-38422-21342
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2010-02090
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Aug 15, 2010
Project End Date
May 14, 2013
Grant Year
2010
Program Code
[NJ]- Hispanic Serving Institutions Education Grants Program
Recipient Organization
WEST HILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
9900 CODY STREET
COALINGA,CA 93210
Performing Department
Agriculture
Non Technical Summary
With the decrease in natural resources throughout California's Westside, area industry needs to conserve every drop of water, every kilowatt of energy and every acre of grazing land. There currently is a shortage of students entering careers in irrigation and natural resources, thus creating a need for employees trained in these disciplines. West Hills College will create new certificate options in Water Science and Natural Resource Management, reshape curricula, acquire scientific instrumentation for teaching, and retain students through mentorship. As a Hispanic-Serving Institution, with 68-98 Hispanic populations in sixteen rural cities, the goal of this project is to increase the rate of underrepresented students in careers in science and engineering. Specifically, this project addresses Priority Need Areas (a) reshape curricula for a changing agricultural system; (e) develop student experiential learning opportunities for underrepresented students; and (f) recruit and retain underrepresented students. This program aims to create programs which will allow students to enter the workforce, or to transfer on to four-year universities. Strengthening institutional educational capacities, attracting and supporting undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups, facilitating cooperative initiatives between two or more Hispanic-Serving Institutions and supporting the activities of Hispanic-Serving Institutions to enhance educational equity for underrepresented students are priorities of this project. Forty students will complete the irrigation program and two new certificate programs and six new courses will be created. In order to prepare students for today's workforce an advisory committee is involved to insure curriculum prepares students to hit-the-ground-running. Cooperative initiatives will be facilitated between WHC staff and the local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS.) These agreements will be initiated in order to create curriculum that will prepare students to maximize the development and use of resources, such as faculty, facilities, and equipment. Project staff will operate and evaluate program success through analyzing the proposal's objectives including: creating hands-on, real-world curriculum, recruiting students through Agricultural Ambassadors, training high school educators and creating experiential internships for students. Forty college students will be engaged in learning communities as they enter the irrigation technology program in order to reinforce the holistic nature of learning and to provide added personal relationships with faculty, mentors, and counselors. The college will use bilingual materials as part of an outreach effort to 200 high school and 100 community college students, resulting in an increase in annual enrollment in the college program, including a 25 percent increase in Hispanic enrollment.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360993020100%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
An advisory committee will be formed and curriculum will be developed to respond to state, regional, and national educational needs within the water science and natural resource management disciplines. 1) The outcome for this objective will be an Irrigation Technology and a Natural Resource Management curriculum to build upon the existing Agricultural Engineering Technology program and will include two new certificate programs; irrigation technology and natural resource management. The irrigation technology curriculum has been created and will be offered during the 2010-2011 school year. The curriculum consists of twenty units including Ag-Irrigation Management, Irrigation Evaluation and Design Principles, Advanced Irrigation Design, Drip and Micro Irrigation Design and Management, Applications of GPS Technology in Ag, CAD for Agriculture, and CAD Applications for Land Management in Agriculture. Forty students will enter the Irrigation Technology program over the next two academic years. Natural Resource Management curriculum will be created and submitted to West Hills College's curriculum committee. This coursework will advance the knowledge of students in water science and natural resource management fields. Project staff will create instructional materials and purchase scientific instrumentation in order to facilitate the new curriculum. This will include a greenhouse, for growing native species, hands-on laboratories and supervised student enterprise projects, a biodiesel generator and a mobile sampler for rangeland/farm evaluation. 2) Project staff will hold planning meetings with six high schools and create articulation agreements in order to attract students. 3) Train-the-Trainer workshops, intended to instruct high school educators concerning irrigation and natural resource management, will be developed and offered. Twenty high school educators will participate in these workshops and will receive toolkits containing the data and equipment needed to incorporate this material into their classes. This will increase high school educator competencies as evidenced by a 25 percent increase in scores between pre and post-assessment tests. Incorporation of this material into high school curriculum will increase student awareness of the Irrigation Technology and Natural Resource Management programs. 4) Project staff also plans to attract and support undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in order to prepare them for careers related to irrigation and natural resource management. The Agriculture Ambassadors will recruit at 20 high schools and hold three workshops for high school students through which they will interact with 200 students. Through the employment of a bilingual assistant, project staff will recruit Hispanic students and enrollment will increase by 25 percent. 5) Student experiential learning opportunities for underrepresented students will be created with local agricultural companies specializing in science and technology. Eleven college students will acquire experiential internships with industry leaders to increase their job readiness and the exposure of the program.
Project Methods
The Farm of the Future and all activities are guided by a large Advisory Board of local stakeholders, who establish the direction for education and outreach. The Farm of the Future is able to overcome one of the largest barriers of incorporating irrigation and natural resource management programs and that is the expense of the technology and other resources. Because of the existence of the current Agricultural Engineering, Precision Agriculture and various vocational programs, a large portion of the equipment is already available for use. An advisory committee has been formed and will meet to discuss curriculum for the new natural resource management program. Adjunct faculty will be hired to teach the additional courses for the irrigation technology program. Curriculum and certificate program will be created for the natural resource management program. New equipment will support lecture and laboratory courses. Agriculture Ambassadors will recruit at twenty high schools and hold recruitment workshops for high school students covering the new irrigation technology and natural resource management programs. Project management, evaluation and dissemination will be provided as assessed by periodic and annual third party evaluations. This project will engage agricultural advisory committee of West Hills College as informal monitors of the projects progress. The project evaluator will be a member of all assessment meetings. Personnel and project resources will be assigned with the approval of the project director and program activities will be monitored by an advisory committee and a project evaluator. Current and adjunct faculty will be involved in the development of coursework and curriculum. The agriculture ambassadors will coordinate and conduct recruiting for the new programs. College students will be engaged in Learning Communities linking their technical classes with the appropriate academic class (Math, Science, English). This will reinforce the holistic nature of learning and provide added personal relationships with faculty, mentors, and counselors. In addition to teaching the curriculum, applied Math and English will be imbedded in the curriculum. Students have shown to learn more efficiently if they are able to apply instructional objectives to applications for interest allowing them to be more productive in their courses needed to transfer to a four-year university. The project proposes many activities, incorporating different methodologies to be inclusive as possible in the expansion of student enrollment in agriculture. This project will product the following products; two bilingual brochures/color flyers for careers and opportunities in irrigation and natural resource management; new programs and support instrumentation for irrigation and natural resource management courses in irrigation technology and natural resource management and curriculum for these programs.

Progress 08/15/10 to 05/14/13

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The largest barrier to the completion of this grant was staff and faculty time. Two of the four, full-time agriculture faculty were out for an entire semester due to health reasons. With California's budget crisis, replacements were not hired, but remaining faculty and staff covered the teaching and administrative duties for the absent faculty members. An advisory committee was formed and water science curriculum (AET 21,22, 23 and 24) and Natural Resource Management curriculum (CRPSCI 32, 36, 44, 45 and 46) were developed to respond to state, regional, and national educational needs. The curriculum is going to be offered in a less traditional offering. The lectures will be offered online and the laboratories are either evenings or weekends to allow for students who are already working to continue so, or students who are not previously employed to gain real-world work experience while they are in school. Then students will not graduate and enter the job market without any relevant work experience. The irrigation technology program was offered during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years. 20 students have participated, four Hispanic-Americans in the Irrigation Technology program. One student, Herman Delgado, an Hispanic American, has passed the Certified Agricultural Irrigation Specialist certification through the Irrigation Association. Natural Resource Management curriculum was created and passed West Hills College's curriculum committee in May 2012. All curriculum was written following the C-ID course identification system. Due to State Bill AB 1440, there is a large push to have all curriculum at public post-secondary education systems aligned. C-ID is a course identification system used to complete this task. After review all courses will automatically transfer to all California Community Colleges and California State Universities. This coursework is scheduled to be offered in Fall 2012 but may be held until Spring 2013. Instructional materials were created and scientific instrumentation was purchased in order to facilitate the new curriculum. This included the creation of an Ethanol Distillation device for fueling the student tractor. Materials for a biodiesel generator and a mobile sampler for rangeland/farm evaluation are scheduled to be purchased between August 2012 and October 2012. Train-the-Trainer workshops, intended to instruct high school educators concerning irrigation and natural resource management, are being developed and have been advertised to California High School educators. 38 participants have signed up to complete the workshops. The workshops are scheduled to begin the second week in August. The Agriculture Ambassadors have recruited at 10 high schools and three industry expositions, interacting with over 200 students. A bilingual assistant, Guadalupe Espinoza, has been hired to increase the outreach to Hispanic students. Six students, including one Hispanic-American female, have gained experiential learning opportunities with local agricultural companies specializing in science and technology in order to increase their job readiness and the exposure of the program. PARTICIPANTS: Principle Investigator, Joy Cowden, completed all day-to-day grant activities. Clint Cowden, Christopher Chaney, Merlin Welch and Bruce Hunt are agriculture faculty memebers who have taught courses during the grant period. Guadalupe Espinoza is the bilingual recruiter and assistant. Partner organizations have been USDA Ag Research Service, USDA NRCS, Wilbur-Ellis, Britz Fertilizers, Pathway to PCA, Irrigation Association, and Water Education Foundation. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience has been traditional and non-traditional students. The courses have been offered in a manner in which working individuals would have difficulty completing the curriculum. The curriculum is going to be offered in a less traditional offering. The lectures will be offered online and the laboratories are either evenings or weekends to allow for students who are already working to continue so, or students who are not previously employed to gain real-world work experience while they are in school. Then students will not graduate and enter the job market without any relevant work experience. The major focus has been increasing enrollment, especially Hispanic enrollment. The success and retention rate for the agriculture program has been well above the college average, but the enrollment, especially Hispanic enrollment has been lower. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The major change in the project has been the project extension. Most of the project's objectives have been met and all expenses have been planned and are in the process of being spent. The largest barrier to the completion of this grant was staff and faculty time. Two of the four, full-time agriculture faculty were out for an entire semester due to health reasons. With California's budget crisis, replacements were not hired, but remaining faculty and staff covered the teaching and administrative duties for the absent faculty members. With the granted extension, the grant objectives will be completed. The major objective which has not yet been completed is the educator workshops. The majority of the planning and advertising has been completed. Thirty-eight educators have signed up to complete the training. With the nine month extension, faculty and staff can prepare the workshops and provide them to regional high school educators. In addition, please find the attached resume for Guadalupe Espinoza, an exceptional hire made for the attainment of the remaining grant objectives.

Impacts
The agriculture department at West Hills College has seen a major overhaul. The courses are being offered in an online-hybrid manner with lectures online and laboratories face-to-face. The agriculture department as a whole, has seen a major increase in Hispanic enrollment throughout the last 5 years, although the largest increase in Hispanic enrollment has been realized in the non-transferrable, vocational programs. The Agricultural Maintenance Mechanic and Welding programs have seen the largest increase. The Hispanic enrollment declined slightly to 38% during the 2009-2010 year, but is expected that the enrollment increased for the 2010-2011 year. The average Hispanic enrollment throughout the duration of the grant was 42%.

Publications

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